FAFSA for grad student - reporting money received from parent

Paying for College FAFSA & CSS Profile
1

I am the parent of a student who will be completing the 2023-24 FAFSA Form. She will be applying for aid as an independent student, since she is 21, and will be attending graduate school and working towards her master’s degree in 2023-24. Because she is considered independent, my understanding is that parental financial information is not required.

With that said, question 41i on the form asks about: “Money received or paid on your behalf (e.g., bills), not reported elsewhere on this form. This includes money that you received from a parent or other person whose financial information is not reported on this form and that is not part of a legal child support agreement.”

My understanding is that this amount should include any bills in her name that were paid by others (eg: parents), as well as any cash or gift cards that were provided to pay such bills.

Is this correct?

And more specifically, should she include tuition and/or room & board that her parents paid while she was attending college as an undergraduate in this “money received or paid on your behalf” amount?

Does anyone know? We’ve searched online and the answers have varied. We tried asking FAFSA but are not getting a response.

Thanks!

2

@kelsmom?

IIRC, when your student becomes a grad student they do not include college costs from undergrad on the FAFSA.

And my opinion….things like gift cards for birthdays and the like don’t get listed either.

1 Like
3

Correct - leave out educational costs paid by parents while student was dependent for financial aid purposes. My interpretation has always been that while the student is dependent for financial aid purposes, the expectation is that the FAFSA parents will support the student. For this reason, I never expected to see any costs paid by the FAFSA parents reported for a time period during which the student was dependent. Bills in the student’s name that were paid by anyone other than the FAFSA parents during that time should be reported. Hope that helps.

4

Thanks @kelsmom! This is very helpful!

Just to clarify, in our case, since she was our dependent last year and we paid her expenses, but won’t be going forward now that she’s independent, then the amount we fill in there would be zero? She hasn’t gotten help from any other sources.

5

Yes, 0 would be correct.

6

Thank you VERY much!